Urban Forests for Clean Air - In 2006, the Sacramento region secured a large Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program grant to support integration of urban forestry in its State Implementation Plan. The project, known as the Urban Forests for Clean Air demonstration project, involves the Sacramento Tree Foundation, the USDA Forest Service, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and the Sacramento, El Dorado, and Placer and Feather River Air Districts. The project includes three phases: 1) initial estimates of the effects of the urban forest on air quality; 2) development of improved models to analyze these impacts; and 3) a final report on the findings. Under the first phase, the Forest Service's Center for Urban Forest Research estimated the impacts of trees on air quality using existing models and statistical analyses. That analysis predicted that one million additional trees could lower emissions of NOx by almost a quarter ton per day and particulate matter by over one ton per day. If trees that emit low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were chosen, ground-level ozone could also be reduced by 1.5 tons daily. The long-term goal for the project is to develop the technical support for a SIP revision that includes large-scale, urban tree planting as a ground-level ozone reduction control strategy for the Sacramento region.

State Implementation Plan - The Washington D.C. region's State Implementation Plan includes a Regional Canopy Management Plan as a ground-level ozone reduction strategy. The plan involves working with local governments to establish goals for increasing tree canopy coverage and decreasing ground-level ozone pollution.

Kansas City Sustainable Skylines Initiative - Sustainable Skylines is a locally-led, EPA-supported, public-private partnership to reduce air emissions and promote sustainability in urban environments. Greater Kansas City was chosen as one of the first pilot communities to implement the Sustainable Skylines program. Projects in Kansas City include: an idling-reduction campaign, water conservation and strategic landscaping projects, converting parking lots to parks, solar demonstration projects, a community forum, and a diesel engine retrofits partnership.

Maryland's State Implementation Plan - Maryland's State Implementation Plan includes a regional forest canopy program that aims to reduce the heat island effect. The program involves assistance and outreach to encourage tree plantings through the coordination of various state and local agencies. This program would be housed within the Department of Natural Resources and would be charged with management of a tree planting database and promoting outreach efforts to landowners and stakeholder groups.

Dallas Sustainable Skylines Initiative - The Sustainable Skylines initiative is a three-year partnership between the City of Dallas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTOG) to promote sustainability within the City via voluntary programs which emphasize air quality improvements. The initiative has identified the following categories of potential projects to initially perform together: green buildings project, creating a greenhouse gas strategy, green taxis project, off-road equipment replacements and retrofits, renewable energy/energy efficiency outreach program, and an urban heat island project. The goal of the urban heat island project is to develop and implement an urban heat island program for the City of Dallas that will both decrease heated surfaces and increase permeability of surfaces in the Central City and other areas of Dallas.

Cool Houston! - Cool Houston! is a program led by the Houston Advanced Research Center and is designed to reduce urban temperatures through use of cool technologies – reflective and green roofing, paving with light colored or porous materials, and a greatly expanded forest canopy.